On Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 7:20 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > > I still think this will probably be business success for NBC, at least > in the limited sense of getting more profit out of its 10:00 pm hour. > It looks like there is a good chance of Leno averaging in the 7 > million viewer range when the real competition begins, and that will > be just fine. I have always thought that long term NBC has a problem, > as it now has little or no way to develop quality programming in the > even it ever wants/needs to get out of the Leno hour at 10:00 (I > suspect it will cannibalize programming from its cable outlets at > first when the time comes).
NBC has signed Leno for two years. If they dump him then, Conan will already be established as the Tonight Show host and should Leno then go to Fox or ABC the impact will be blunted for NBC. Whoever signs Leno under this scenario has to face the possibility that Leno's prime time audience won't follow him back to late night. In the meantime NBC has cheap programming to see them through the lean times. When (actually if) advertising money pours back into network TV, NBC will have enough time to get pilots for 10 PM shows made by Universal. If the lean times continue, the can re-sign Leno. > > But I see now a new problem for Leno; while he may make money for > himself and NBC masters, what will be the downstream consequences for > his reputation and sense of self of being a marginal player in the > national mind? At 11:35 he was never a Johny Carson, but apparently > for a majority of people who watch late night TV he was still > something of a touchstone. Now, even though he will get more nightly > viewers, he will get a much smaller percentage, and the response to > the question "Did you see what was on Leno last night" will not be > "Yes" by a majority of people watching TV during his time slot, but > more "No - I was watching something else". >From what I've read about Leno, I think his legacy will be his becoming a rich, successful standup comic when so many comics around have failed. He doesn't have a vision for what a talk show or even a talk show host should be. He has always been likable and reasonably honest. If you look back at the 17 year history of his Tonight Show, even if you don't find the game changing visionary TV that could be associated with Kovacs, Cavett, Mike Judge (in another context), or Letterman, you also can't find an instance where Leno was shown to be dishonest or where he just let standards drop. > > I don't even know what advice I would give to turn this into the kind > of show I might like to watch. I think he probably had to keep his > monologue, though as biased as I am I don't think I have heard a joke > all week that has made me laugh. After that I would give him some desk > (or now, I suppose, chair) time to talk about the events of the day on > his own, then bring out a guest that he can have a real conversation > with ( I would actually like to see a format where the guest interview > Leno as much or more than Leno interview the guest. That would give us > a novel glimps at the celebrity, and make Leno much more likable). > Then maybe give him 1 comedy bit to do at the end. I might watch that > once in a while. There is no flow to the show. Right now, each show is just a collection of its segments. The show needs flow and faster pacing. Maybe the leisurely pace suits Leno, but the show feels like it's dragging. Tom --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
